1.
Badminton
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Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with teams, the most common forms of the game are singles and doubles. Badminton is often played as an outdoor activity in a yard or on a beach. Points are scored by striking the shuttlecock with the racquet and landing it within the opposing half of the court. Each side may only strike the shuttlecock once before it passes over the net, play ends once the shuttlecock has struck the floor or if a fault has been called by the umpire, service judge, or the opposing side. The shuttlecock is a feathered or plastic projectile which flies differently from the used in many other sports. In particular, the feathers create much higher drag, causing the shuttlecock to decelerate more rapidly, shuttlecocks also have a high top speed compared to the balls in other racquet sports. The game developed in British India from the game of battledore. European play came to be dominated by Denmark but the game has very popular in Asia. Since 1992, badminton has been a Summer Olympic sport with five events, mens singles, womens singles, mens doubles, womens doubles, at high levels of play, the sport demands excellent fitness, players require aerobic stamina, agility, strength, speed, and precision. It is also a sport, requiring good motor coordination. The name derives from the Duke of Beauforts Badminton House in Gloucestershire, as early as 1860, a London toy dealer named Isaac Spratt published a booklet titled Badminton Battledore—A New Game but unfortunately no copy has survived. An 1863 article in The Cornhill Magazine describes badminton as battledore and shuttlecock played with sides, the game may have originally developed among expatriate officers in British India, where it was very popular by the 1870s. Early on, the game was known as Poona or Poonah after the garrison town of Pune, where it was particularly popular. By 1875, returning officers had started a club in Folkestone. Initially, the sport was played with sides ranging from 1–4 players, the shuttlecocks were coated with India rubber and, in outdoor play, sometimes weighted with lead. Although the depth of the net was of no consequence, it was preferred that it should reach the ground, the sport was played under the Pune rules until 1887, when the J. H. E. Hart of the Bath Badminton Club drew up revised regulations, in 1890, Hart and Bagnel Wild again revised the rules

2.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state‍—‌the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government

3.
All England Open Badminton Championships
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The All England Open Badminton Championships is the worlds oldest badminton tournament, held annually in England. With the introduction of the BWFs latest grading system, it was given Superseries status in 2007, although the inaugural edition consisted of just the doubles format, the singles were introduced from the second edition onward. There were two instances when it was halted – from 1915 to 1919 and from 1940 to 1946, the tournament has been held at eight venues, and is now played at the Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham. Mens singles Womens singles Mens doubles Womens doubles Mixed doubles Below is the list of the most successful players in the All England Open Badminton Championships, Official website

4.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years

5.
Sir George Thomas, 7th Baronet
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Sir George Alan Thomas, 7th Baronet was a British badminton, tennis and chess player. He was twice British Chess Champion and a 21-time All-England Badminton champion and he also reached the quarterfinals of the singles and the semifinals of the mens tennis doubles at Wimbledon in 1911. Badmintons world mens team championships cup, equivalent to tennis Davis Cup, is named Thomas Cup after him, Thomas lived most of his life in London and Godalming. He never married, so the hereditary Thomas baronetcy ended on his death, Thomas was admired for his fine sportsmanship. Four of those titles were in singles, nine in mens doubles. He won his titles both before and after a hiatus in the competition from 1915 to 1919 due to World War I, in 1934 he was co-founder of the International Badminton Federation, of which he was president from 1934 to 1955. Inspired by tennis Davis Cup, first held in 1900, and footballs World Cup, first held in 1930, in 1939 his idea was well received at the general meeting of the International Badminton Federation. In the same year, Sir George presented the Thomas Cup, officially known as The International Badminton Championship Challenge Cup, produced by Atkin Bros of London at a cost of US$40,000. The Cup stands 28 inches high and 16 inches across at its widest, the first tournament was originally planned for 1941-1942, but due to World War II was not realized until 1948-1949, when ten national teams participated in the first Thomas Cup competition. Despite its British origins, Englands best finish in the Thomas Cup has been a place in 1984. Thomas was inducted into the World Badminton Hall of Fame as an Inaugural Member in 1996, Thomas was British Chess Champion in 1923 and 1934. For Capablanca, this had been the first loss in tournament play for four years, also in Hastings, eleven years later, Euwe would become the third world chess champion to be defeated by Thomas in a game. His lifetime scores against the elite were however less flattering, he had minuses against Emanuel Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Efim Bogoljubov, Euwe, Flohr. He also fared badly against Edgard Colle, Thomas made even scores with Botvinnik, Richard Réti and Siegbert Tarrasch. Against Géza Maróczy, the balance was in Thomas favour, at age 69, he gave up competitive chess. Sir George Thomas by Bill Wall at the Wayback Machine,445 chess games of Sir George Thomas

6.
Republic of Ireland
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Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the part of the island. The state shares its land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, Saint Georges Channel to the south-east, and it is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The head of government is the Taoiseach, who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President, the state was created as the Irish Free State in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It was officially declared a republic in 1949, following the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, Ireland became a member of the United Nations in December 1955. It joined the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, after joining the EEC, Ireland enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in rapid economic growth. The country achieved considerable prosperity between the years of 1995 and 2007, which known as the Celtic Tiger period. This was halted by a financial crisis that began in 2008. However, as the Irish economy was the fastest growing in the EU in 2015, Ireland is again quickly ascending league tables comparing wealth and prosperity internationally. For example, in 2015, Ireland was ranked as the joint sixth most developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index and it also performs well in several national performance metrics, including freedom of the press, economic freedom and civil liberties. Ireland is a member of the European Union and is a member of the Council of Europe. The 1922 state, comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland, was styled, the Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that the name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland. Section 2 of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 states, It is hereby declared that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland. The 1948 Act does not name the state as Republic of Ireland, because to have done so would have put it in conflict with the Constitution. The government of the United Kingdom used the name Eire, and, from 1949, Republic of Ireland, for the state, as well as Ireland, Éire or the Republic of Ireland, the state is also referred to as the Republic, Southern Ireland or the South. In an Irish republican context it is referred to as the Free State or the 26 Counties. From the Act of Union on 1 January 1801, until 6 December 1922, during the Great Famine, from 1845 to 1849, the islands population of over 8 million fell by 30%

7.
A. W. Andrews
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Arthur Westlake Andrews was a British geographer, poet, rock-climber, mountaineer and amateur tennis and badminton player. He trained as a geographer and became a teacher of geography, in 1913 he published a text-book of geography, reprinted in 1922. As a climber, his first contribution appears to have been, in 1899 and he is especially remembered for two later climbing contributions, for his co-authorship, with J. M. A. Pyatt he later produced the first official Cornish climbing guide, in 1950 and he is also believed to have had a project to traverse all the British coastline, between the high and low water marks, aided where necessary by a rope, starting in Cornwall. In later years he appears to have turned to poetry inspired by the scenery of West Penwith, oSullivan, Pete West Penwith, Climbers Club, ISBN 0-901601-28-4 Ref.2 Climbers Club Journal,1997 Tennis Archives

8.
Wales
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Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh

Wales ((listen); Welsh: Cymru [ˈkəmri] (listen)) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of …

Britain in AD 500: The areas shaded pink on the map were inhabited by the CelticBritons, here labelled Welsh. The pale blue areas in the east were controlled by Germanic tribes, whilst the pale green areas to the north were inhabited by the Gaels and Picts.